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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27893029">The meaning of passive-aggression</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkhymns/pseuds/Darkhymns'>Darkhymns</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Tales of Crestoria</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dubious Consent, F/M, Fade to Black, Kinbaku, Light Bondage, Some Humor, Teasing, minor Aegis Alver/Vicious</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:41:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,536</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27893029</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkhymns/pseuds/Darkhymns</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuna only wanted a bit of fun with Aegis after an exciting conversation she had with Vicious - or so she said.</p>
<p>But Aegis had never been good at detecting lies.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aegis Alver/Yuna Azetta, Yuna Azetta &amp; Vicious</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The meaning of passive-aggression</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was originally supposed to be Yuna/Aegis/Vicious but it didn't quite pan out that way. Much of this was spurred on by a certain skit in Crestoria where Yuna seems very into the idea of tying up Aegis (so is Vicious, but he's not as talented as Yuna, let's be real). As well as all the battle dialogue between her and Aegis which has become my absolute favorite. Cresty please give me more interaction between them. Anyway I ship Aegis with everyone, have fun.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was nothing more suspicious than seeing two troublemakers huddled in a shadowy corner of the inn’s main room, going into fits of giggling, their grins stretching from ear to ear. Like children reveling in their latest crime of stealing the last chocolate cake slice, or thieves that prided themselves on their petty crime of snatching a few gald from an old lady that passed by.</p>
<p>It only got more obnoxious when they wouldn’t leave said corner for around ten minutes.</p>
<p>“Are you two ill?” Aegis asked of the pair, going to them. “The innkeeper here keeps giving us looks because of…whatever this is. Have you forgotten that we’re supposed to be undercover?”</p>
<p>Yuna was covering her mouth with just her fingertips, barely hiding away the smile. She seemed absolutely<em> tickled </em>about something and whenever Aegis saw such an expression on her face, he knew it had to be bad news. Maybe he should check his pack later, and see if she hadn’t put something incriminating in it like last time…</p>
<p>“Oh Aegrouch, don’t be jealous now. We are just ‘avin a, how do you say… a little bit of girl talk!”</p>
<p>“…You don’t say.” Aegis narrowed his eyes at the slouched form of a certain Great Transgressor. His grin matched that of Yuna’s, even as he had to bend down his long legs to whisper effectively with Yuna just before. “Yeah, learn to mind your own business, knighty boy!”</p>
<p>To that, Aegis just rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Kanata and Misella have already gone to their rooms, so I’ll just be going to mine. Have fun looking as suspicious as possible then.”</p>
<p>“Heh, you know it!” Vicious flashed another sharp-tooted grin at the ex-knight, and once again, Aegis had no idea what to make of this man, except that he was most likely deranged in the head. He tried to ignore the strange flutter in his chest. It had just been a very long day.</p>
<p>“If you are so curious, per’aps you would like to join in on our little discussion.” Yuna winked as she spoke, her voice like liquid that probably would have melted any other soul if Aegis’ will wasn’t made of steel, as he knew it was.</p>
<p>“Going from experience, I’m quite sure that the less I know, the better. So, goodnight.”</p>
<p>Aegis wasn’t going to linger, especially in this ramshackle lobby of the inn, which strangely looked like every <em>other</em> inn lobby they had been visiting for the past few weeks. But true to his word, he didn’t stay, walking up the stairs, remembering to feed little Meakyu before going to sleep for the night.</p>
<p>He only barely noticed the mischievous tinge to both Yuna and Vicious’ grins as he turned away, but to be fair, that wasn’t exactly out of the norm. This only emboldened him to check his vest pockets in the morning and get rid of any tufts of grass stuffed inside. The joke was certainly getting old.</p><hr/>
<p>“Hey, I told ya I’d kill to see you try that, right?”</p>
<p>“Must everything be so violent with you? Maybe Aegrouch is right, you truly are a barbarian…”</p>
<p>Aegis thought he was dreaming it up. Not exactly the first time he had nightmares about the very people he was traveling with after all! Perhaps it was just Vicious finally coming upstairs to get to bed, even though he couldn’t recall ever actually seeing the man sleep. And still, why was he hearing Yuna at all…?</p>
<p>Bleary-eyed, and a bit grumpy, (trying to feed Meakyu had taken the better part of an hour as the small creature kept avoiding him in fear…) Aegis finally sat up, groaning in annoyance. “I’ve barely slept for more than an hour. Can you two please-?”</p>
<p>Then he felt himself pulled back, the back of his skull smacking roughly against the headboard of the bed.</p>
<p>Hearing Vicious’ voice again made him think that he was definitely stuck in some sort of nightmare.</p>
<p>“Huh, didn’t actually mean to do that. These thread things are temperamental.”</p>
<p>“You would blame them for your oafishness?” A sharp <em>tsk</em> of the tongue. “<em>Mon amie</em>, you are much too violent.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t think he’d get up that quickly! It’s his fault!”</p>
<p>Aegis was sleepy, a tad bit famished, (Meakyu also ate his food) and now his head was aching after being so roughly pulled by…something!</p>
<p>He tried to move his arms, then found that he couldn’t. Not at all!?</p>
<p>They were pressed to his sides, due to the binding around him, the material much stronger than it seemed at first glance. It looked like thread that had been dipped in red paint, but as he struggled, he could feel it nearly bite into him from their tension. “Gah! W-w-what is this?!”</p>
<p>And only then did he finally turn to his left, seeing both Yuna and Vicious standing by his bedside. In Yuna’s right hand, he could see her kunai held deftly by her fingers. The red string dangled from the very end of the weapons.</p>
<p>Wait, her kunai? That meant-</p>
<p>“You’re using your blood sin on me? Are you insane?!” And oh, he wished his voice hadn’t cracked just then.</p>
<p>She coyly tapped the kunai’s sharp tip against her lips, concern in her eyes. “Oui, juzt a little experiment. But you are not being a very promising subject for it…”</p>
<p>“I <em>told</em> you, I could have just knocked him out like that!” Vicious clenched one hand and slammed it into the open palm of another. The motion of it somehow made Aegis get pulled forward, smacking his nose straight into Vicious’ arm – and only now did he notice the Great Transgressor held one end of that curious red string material too, complete with Yuna’s very weapon. “You never let me try out my ideas!”</p>
<p>“<em>Oui</em>, because if I let you, you would just give this poor boy a concussion. That iz not what we want.”</p>
<p>“You sure about that?”</p>
<p>“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?!” Aegis once again tried to wriggle his way out of the strings, but to no avail at all. He was shivering, the blankets he had tucked around himself now in a messy pile at the foot of his bed. Though his legs were free, he was still half-submerged in fatigue to do much of anything else with them except shift them around. And to think he had slept through…through whatever they had been doing to him!</p>
<p>“Just what is this? Is…is this a hostage situation?” He grew quiet, his voice barely above a whisper. “Are…are you traitors!?”</p>
<p>Yuna smiled and nodded. “Zat is true. There iz big money on your head!”</p>
<p>“Yeah! What she said.” Vicious pointed a thumb at her, trying so hard to hold back laughter that he nearly doubled over. “Gonna get a lifetime booze supply out of ya!”</p>
<p>“…You are just both making fun of me again, aren’t you?”</p>
<p>Yuna nodded once more. “I would think you would see through my lies by now, Aegrouch.”</p>
<p>Aegis very, very deeply frowned, but that was literally all he was capable of doing right now. Dressed in his underclothes, which consisted of just a threadbare shirt and his loose boxers (knight-certified, of course), he felt all sorts of vulnerable, especially when underneath the leering gazes of a lying journalist and raucous criminal that still never learned how to wear a shirt himself. If this had been a few weeks earlier, Aegis would have felt completely mortified. Currently, he was just very tired.</p>
<p>He sighed. “I would prefer it if you didn’t rope me into your strange games… Stop that!”</p>
<p>He could already see Vicious laughing, pulling at the ‘rope’ that was bound so very tightly around Aegis’ arms and torso. “Aw, come on! I didn’t make you say it.”</p>
<p>“That’s not the issue, also you are cutting off the circulation to my shoulder!”</p>
<p>“Circu-what now?”</p>
<p>“Az I said before,” Yuna interrupted before the two could get lost in their own arguments. “Vicious and I just wanted to try a little experiment with you. We were having a bet, you zee. Knights like you are so stiff, a bit of a bore…”</p>
<p>“I am <em>not</em> boring!” Aegis couldn’t help but feel a bit defensive.</p>
<p>“I’m not done, but yes, such a bore! Vicious here thought you would be impossible to loosen up, but me… I have much more faith in you.” She winked, leaning forward, the hem of her robe reaching to the wooden floorboards. It also gave him more of a view than he was comfortable with.</p>
<p>“And how exactly does tying me up make me <em>less</em> boring?”</p>
<p>“Ah Agerouch, hav you never heard the term about opposites attracting? It’s not just to do with people…” She straightened again, and held up her kunai where the ring of it looped that curious red string. “But you woke up before we were complete with it… I had many <em>kinbaku</em> patterns I wanted to try on you.”</p>
<p>Aegis had to pause on that, just for a moment. He had to sift through numerous ledgers in his brain to finally settle on the very meaning of that word.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, did you just say-” he started, only for Vicious to groan in frustration, interrupting him completely.</p>
<p>“Ugh, stop it with your damn French junk! I already said we should tie back his arms and see how far they go before they pop. Can’t get less boring than that!”</p>
<p>Aegis stared open-mouthed, while Yuna merely shook her head like a scolding teacher. “Non, that would be very bad now, wouldn’t it? Not everyone grows back their arms such az you.”</p>
<p>“Well, maybe if he tried!” Vicious then cackled wickedly, hopping onto Aegis’ bed while still wearing his shoes, still dragging the dirt from the 10-mile trek today. <em>(No!!)</em> “Also! I said first thing we should wrap this junk around his throat, then he’d be knocked out like a light! I know this stuff!”</p>
<p>“That would- that would literally kill me!” Aegis shouted. They must have made a racket by this point, so how had no one come by to his room already? He knew Misella didn’t care but he had at least hoped for Kanata…</p>
<p>“I must agree with Aegrouch. It would very likely kill him.” She clasped her hands together, placing her cheek over them, all while still holding one of the kunais with no fear to their sharpness. “And it would be truly terrible, it would!”</p>
<p>“I cannot tell if you are being sarcastic or not,” Aegis said, in half-defeat. “I do not think I want to know the true answer.”</p>
<p>With Vicious practically standing over him, grinning that terribly sharp grin of his, (and why did he have too stand that way? So much so that his marked abdomen was too close for comfort…at least Aegisthought) there was not much Aegis could do when he was essentially being tied up like a cooked turkey. And he didn’t appreciate the way Vicious seemed like he was about to salivate on him at any given moment. He didn’t handle the kunai he held with any grace like Yuna, looking dangerously close to dropping it straight on Aegis’ head at any second.</p>
<p>“Hm, we could try tying up his tongue!” Vicious helpfully suggested, looking particularly excited on that idea. “Especially if he’s gonna whine so much.”</p>
<p>At that, Yuna motioned with her right hand. Aegis only saw the red string wrapped around her ring finger before the shape of the kunai flew across his face. The weapon sang through the air, the tip nearly grazing his cheek before she caught it and quickly hid it in her overflowing sleeve.</p>
<p>“Hey!” Vicious shouted, and though he was addressing it to Yuna, he was closest to Aegis. So it sounded like he was screaming just exactly into his ear instead. “I was using that dumb thing.”</p>
<p>“<em>Je suis désolé,</em> Vicious. But, clearly, this is too much for you. Kinbaku is not the same as going, as you say, full guns blazing? It requires much more thinking then per’aps you are used to.”</p>
<p>“Ughhh, this is sounding less fun by the minute. I think you tricked me!”</p>
<p>“Does no one care how <em>I</em> feel about this?” Aegis asked, then closed his eyes. “No, of course not. Or I would not be here in the first place.”</p>
<p>Vicious placed a bent arm atop on Aegis’ head, leaning on him as he sighed so very deeply. “I care about you shutting up right now.”</p>
<p>“Duly noted.”</p>
<p>“I could very well go with my first plan, Vicious, and tie you and Aegis together instead.” She smiled, though the leer in her eyes was much more obvious now. “A bit of jealousy that you are not getting the same experience?”</p>
<p>“Hey, told you I ain’t care about what a ham feels like!” Aegis had to think about that turn of phrase, even as Vicious continued. “You and Kanata are way too obsessed about tying me up here.”</p>
<p>“Wh-What does Kanata have to do with this?” Was this <em>his</em> idea? And he had thought the young man to at least have some integrity.</p>
<p>Yuna shrugged. “Now it’s getting to be less fun. And usually we work together so very well.”</p>
<p>Vicious finally stepped off the bed, (while leaving dirty footprints behind!) hands folded behind his head. “Alright. Then I’m out. Gotta say, this just ain’t as exciting as I was hoping for it to be.”</p>
<p>Oh… Were they already going to be done humiliating him like this? Was it truly over? Aegis couldn’t begin to believe his luck.</p>
<p>“Oh Vicious, after all we been through?” Yuna was overdramatic in her disappointment, her hand placed on her forehead in mock despair, her body looking ready to sway right to the ground. Had she been takin acting lessons as well from Penelope? “We were two peas in a pod, and yet you abandon me…”</p>
<p>Vicious waved her off, stepping around her form with all the stealth of a hidden snake in the grass. “Maybe I need to be more drunk for this to be fun… So I’m going downstairs to do just that. Also I expected knighty here to scream a bit more. But all he does is bitch and moan.”</p>
<p>“You are incredibly awful,” Aegis intoned.</p>
<p>“And? What’s your point?”</p>
<p>Yuna moved from her ‘despaired woman’ position to resume her natural stance, looking suddenly so chipper again as she waved at the Great Transgressor. “Please be sure to drink yourself to death again!”</p>
<p>“No promises!”</p>
<p><em>Again?? </em>But Aegis tried to show himself mercy by not thinking too hard on that.</p>
<p>Vicious shut the door then, and Aegis could only imagine he would go to the kitchen, terrorize the bartender for a little bit before stealing the alcohol from the kegs. His sole hope was that the proprietor would be too terrified later to make them pay for the expenses…</p>
<p>And yet Yuna hadn’t moved. In fact, she just continued standing by Aegis’ bed, smiling so pleasantly.</p>
<p>“Um.” Aegis shifted. Though his legs were still free, the red string continued to bite into his shirt, which was very uncomfortable. “Are we not done with this, or….?”</p>
<p>Ah, first mistake. He shouldn’t have made it a question.</p>
<p>Yuna continued to smile, but her eyes held something <em>else</em> in their depts, and she did so while holding up one kunai. The energy from that blood sin was similar to his own, and he could feel it heat up the air between them. “Aegrouch, but I haven’t even begun to have my fun yet.”</p>
<p>“You and I most likely have very different definitions of that word.”</p>
<p>Yuna stuck out her tongue at him then, showing off her pattern of guilt for the ex-knight to see. “Oui, your idea of fun is making up a grocery list for our next shopping trip, non?”</p>
<p>“You know how important it is that we have supplies! How many times must I explain this to all of you?” He paused. “Also, making lists just happen to be very meditative for me.”</p>
<p>Yuna nodded, but did so as if she would fall asleep at any moment. “See, now zis is why I wanted to do this! Per’aps I could instill a different level of fun for you? It will be for sure to get ‘ze blood pumping as you say!”</p>
<p>“I don’t like the mention of blood here…”</p>
<p>Yuna didn’t listen to his concerns. She held up both weapons suddenly, and the strings unraveled from his body – but they hovered around him, like sharp lines of color that cut straight through the air.</p>
<p>“Besides, without Vicious to interrupt, this will be much more pleasant, don’t you think?”</p>
<p>Aegis tried to react quickly. He shifted from the bed, the brand on his chest burning so brightly, it shone through his shirt. “I won’t let you-!”</p>
<p>But before he could even let another word pass through his lips, he was wrapped up, contained, bound again. The strings from Yuna’s kunais slipped around him like quick-moving snakes, even the very air they traveled through seemed to hiss at their travel. It triggered a memory of when he had seen her control these very strings to dig into the earth with the force of steel, rooting objects from their very foundation.</p>
<p>These strings could cut him up, could break him bit by bit, if she so desired. And he waited for that to happen, awed by their motion.</p>
<p>One slipped around his left thigh, while another wrapped around his chest like a circlet, doing so twice before traveling down to his arms. This time, they were pulled back, just slightly away from his body, and held together with the binding.</p>
<p>The act felt as if it was happening both too fast and too slow, all at once. Aegis found himself staring as the red string weaved themselves into knots, couldn’t move a leg before it was already bound up, limiting himself of all movement and freedom. His arms were pulled in closer to his back, and there was the sensation of the strands moving over his skin, forming knots that seemed impossible to pull apart.</p>
<p>He couldn’t follow their travel for much of it, many of it out of his sight. Aegis tried to struggle once more, and that was when he felt a hot breath just at his neck, saw that mark of guilt, printed black against the pink of her tongue.</p>
<p>“<em>Se détendre,</em> Aegis.” The smile was still on her face, but it held less of the bite than he had expected. “We don’t need to put on a show now.”</p>
<p>This only confused him more, from what had already been a very confusing night all around.</p>
<p>Why was she acting this way with him? Why <em>would </em>she?</p>
<p>He was still, so very still as the strings enveloped him in intimate ways, when he saw Yuna’s fingers move along the air, as if pressing against the invisible keys of an instrument. “Yuna,” he said, finally remembering to use her name. “Are you-”</p>
<p>“And done!” she said so quickly, leaving his neck and sporting another of her knowing smiles. The softness of her voice before had now completely vanished. She then gently placed her weapons on the bed, admiring her handiwork on Aegis. “All wrapped up and as lovely as any present.”</p>
<p>Aegis halted, feeling the binds pressed against his shirt, against his skin. He couldn’t see himself as well as Yuna could see him right now, but he stretched his back just a bit and it –</p>
<p>It was the very the limitation of it. The containment. The suspension, his arms still locked together tight, out of his very sight. If the knots there were more woven tightly, if there were dozens and dozens of them, he wouldn’t have been able to tell, at least not by much. He wasn’t experienced enough to understand it through touch alone.</p>
<p>But through it all, the way he felt, it wasn’t something that tightened or pulled at a nerve. It didn’t threaten to lock the flow of blood or make his muscles ache.</p>
<p>The binds moved with him, just enough. Working with him, almost.</p>
<p>“So…does it hurt?”</p>
<p>Aegis opened his mouth to confirm just that, because hadn’t it just did before? With the thread so tight that, if it truly had been wrapped around his throat like Vicious joked about, he’d have choked?</p>
<p>But he paused, focused on the feeling in his fingers – and his fingers could still bend and feel, despite their current position. The binds were around his wrist, around his thighs, and over his torso. The strings splayed out around him like floral patterns once he, looping underneath each other to create imagery that he hadn’t ever considered.</p>
<p>“I…suppose not…” And he didn’t understand that. Just earlier, the binds had squeezed him much too tightly.</p>
<p>Yuna placed a hand on her chest, and sighed. “Good. It iz not supposed to. Well, unless you would like it to.” She winked. “But I wanted to make your experience a more pleasurable one this time. It feels like a big hug, does it not?”</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t go that far,” Aegis pouted. “But it is rather nice that it doesn’t feel like my arms are being pulled from their sockets.”</p>
<p>“Ah, magnifique then!” Though she no longer held her weapons, he still saw the string around her fingers, still trailing from her hands, connected to the patterns that decorated his chest, his thighs, and perhaps his back, if he could hazard a guess. It moved along with her, and he felt that gentle motion, nearly in sync with her own. “I always wanted to dress you up as such. Getting the braided pattern down your spine was a bit tricky.”</p>
<p>Aegis flushed, embarrassed at the affair, while also slightly intrigued. “Please do not treat me as your doll.”</p>
<p>“Oh? Even after I gave you such a pretty bow…” She giggled, and only then did the threads started to tickle, only then did he see the end of one looping down to brush against his cheek. He almost didn’t want to know just how extravagant she had made this so-called bow on him.</p>
<p>“You…you humiliate me enough during the day!” he shot back, the calming sensation from before already evaporating. “I demand you untie me.”</p>
<p>“Ah, but do you really mean such a thing? My dear Embroiling Deceit… she would just like to have your way with you.” Yuna tapped a finger against her chin, her gaze thoughtful and so very concerned, (oh of course she was) as she turned to the wall. “I’d assume you would appreciate the fine arts such as zis. My very own <em>chef-d'œuvre</em>, yet you would rather see it scattered and become utter chaos?”</p>
<p>“What are you talking about? You’re the one that assaulted me in my sleep-”</p>
<p>The kunais laid out on the bed snapped right back into the air, their blades catching the moonlight streaming in from the window. They rushed straight down, past his still head to imbed themselves into the wood of his headboard.</p>
<p>There was the sudden sharp clunk of the wood. It was loud, as loud as gunshots. But it was only the blades, their edges humming as they vibrated in the wood from the force of their plunge.</p>
<p>He blinked, and Yuna was over him then, smiling that same smile.</p>
<p>Her hands were placed against the bed, looking over him like he was something just so very interesting that she had found on the ground. “Aw, if only I had brought my enpicturator along… What a fun sight for me.”</p>
<p>His heart fluttered for the second time that night, yet the binds around his wrist didn’t tighten, even in his initial struggle.</p>
<p>“I…I don’t understand you!” The words came out louder than he meant to. Just a small crease on Yuna’s forehead, but he noted it. He kept pushing.</p>
<p>“What exactly do you even want with me?!” Her twin ponytails brushed against the bed on either side of him, tickled his sides cheeks just a bit, the way the threads had earlier. The red of the material seemed to illuminate within the dimness of the room. They matched the very shade of her elaborate hair pins, and, were they loosened? Just a bit? “Why pick me for such a so-called experiment? Just to torture me? That’s all any of you ever do!”</p>
<p>“Oh Aegrouch, you are just so fun to play with.” She sighed, and her breath hit his skin, sent nerves springing to life after being put to sleep from the binds. “Must you keep saying such cruel ‘zings to me?”</p>
<p>He narrowed his eyes, but failed at hiding away the color he felt rise to his cheeks.</p>
<p>“…I told you that won’t work on me.” Even on the battlefield, she liked to mess with him. More than even Vicious would.</p>
<p>Then so close, once again. She stuck out her tongue playfully, her very guilt branded on her with the brief flicker of flame.</p>
<p>Too close. Not unless she was about to-</p>
<p>Yuna looked down, and it was then he felt a fingertip against his chest, making him wince. Not from pain.</p>
<p>She pressed against that very guilt of his, hidden beneath his shirt, despite its lightness. It felt too much, too overwhelming for a moment. She hadn’t seen how it happened, how it came to be. She could not know. After all, hers had come from the ire of misguided and petty people. A true failure of the vision orb system.</p>
<p>Not like his own, so rightly deserved.</p>
<p>“Yet zis seems to work on you?” She tilted her head, tracing that guilt over him, too accurate in her patterns. “Maybe I should do something else with it then. Unless you truly would not want to.”</p>
<p>Aegis had his answer ready, floating within his head all this time, even as she bounded him up in strangely gentle ways. He tried to speak, but the words would not come.</p>
<p>Instead, he said, “You don’t even like me, I thought.”</p>
<p>She winked. “Aegrouch, I thought you would know my lies by now.” Leaning in, near his neck. “But you don’t know me so well, do you?”</p>
<p>The feel of her tongue was warm and sharp, and the Stain over his heart only continued to burn. Yet…not painful, and still he was bound and kept still, instead of being scattered to pieces as he had so often felt.</p>
<p>“I will help keep you together,” she breathed into his ear. “If you will humor me, for a little while.”</p>
<p>Perhaps she still kept lying, even long after the night drew out, when the shape of her own Guilt was imprinted into his head, into his very own mouth. The threads kept him from being shattered from his own misgivings, while her tongue continued to do carve meaning into him, down to his chest where the light of his guilt never dimmed – but he would not ask why she chose him to assuage her own guilt.</p>
<p>Maybe it was better to not know the answer.</p>
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